Help was Right in Front of You
by OmnipresentNuance
Summary: Lincoln's volcano project is nearing completion, but he is still concerned that his parents will be too busy to help finish it. However, he may soon realize that he had additional help all along in the form of his sisters, including the ones who've been accompanying him recently.


**Well, here I am for the second day in a row with another spot of writing. Three-for-two, woo! But like I've said before, not every day will have something uploaded in the month and there will be breaks here and there.**

**In addition, I am very pleased with the amount of views, reviews, favorites and such my first two stories have gotten so far. Thank you very much!**

**Today's offering is based on "Attention Deficit" and it's a fun little "what if" scenario that starts out with the idea that Luna and Lynn are the only two sisters who tagged along with Lincoln at the McBride residence while he works on his volcano. In other words, this story pretends Luna never blabbed everything out in song to all her other sisters while in the shower. Also in regards to that moment, who would be dumb enough to leave the bathroom door open while showering? Anyway, aside from that change, I attempt to explore the theme of Lincoln realizing that he didn't have to rely entirely on just his parents to help him out with his project and that he could've also asked his sisters for help. That, among other things, was the genesis for this story. **

**With all that in mind, let's delve in to this one, shall we? **

_**The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.**_

* * *

Attention is something children oftentimes seek or even need from their parents. When living in a house consisting of 11 siblings, getting that individualized attention can be much more of a hassle than usual. Especially if you are the only boy and are the literal, exact middle child of such a family.

This scenario is precisely what Lincoln had been dealing with. Recently, he had a been constructing a volcano project for his science class and wanted some assistance from his parents. However, he didn't get such help because whenever it seemed they had even the slightest, most minuscule amount of time available, they instead had to attend to something else involving one of his sisters. It got to the point for Lincoln where he questioned if he'll get his project done in time for his class.

But an opportunity rose for Lincoln that proved beneficial. His friend Clyde had offered up to him to come on over to his house and have Clyde's dads, Howard and Harold McBride, to perhaps help out with things. Lincoln gladly took up his best friend's offer and not only did he get more work done, the McBrides gave him a spot of pampering on top of that. The pampering was so noticeable that when Lincoln came back home later that same day, it caught the attention of his sports aficionado older sister, Lynn. Once he had explained where he had been, and especially when said that Harold used to play ball in college, Lynn asked if she could come along with Lincoln over to the McBride residence the next day, which he accepted.

Then on that following day, when Lynn and Lincoln arrived home, Luna had now caught wind of what was going on and figured she wanted in too, particularly after she found out that Howard had a thing for music himself. Lincoln allowed her to come as well, but also stressed that having two of his sisters knowing about such arrangements was his absolute limit and made Luna promise him that she doesn't reveal to everyone else about this.

Perhaps by sheer luck alone, nobody else became aware of things and it was only just the three of them over at the McBride household, with Luna and Lynn taking part in their specific activities with Clyde's dads, and with Lincoln getting closer to finishing with his volcano. All things considered, Lincoln thought things had went along quite swimmingly.

Once the time was coming close to 7:00 PM, the three Loud siblings elected to head back home for now. They had been invited to stay for dinner, but figured they should be on their way back at a reasonable hour.

As Lincoln and his sisters were departing, he exchanged goodbyes with the McBrides.

"Bye, Clyde! Bye, Mr. McBride! Bye, Mr. McBride!" He shouted.

"Bye, you guys!" Clyde said back.

"Have a safe trip home!" Howard added.

"Come back again when you have the time!" Harold expressed, rounding out the exchange.

Following that, the siblings journeyed onward back to their own abode, each with their respective items they brought along at hand: Luna with her guitar strapped to her back, Lynn with her baseball bat and glove and Lincoln with his nearly finished volcano project.

"Aw, man, how awesome was today? I think Mr. McBride really helped me add that little extra 'oomph' to my game." Lynn said proudly, talking about Harold in this regard.

"Yeah, and my jam session with Mr. McBride was totally rockin'!" Luna stated emphatically, referencing Howard in her case, then she turned to Lincoln, "Hey, and thanks for letting us hang with you at their place, Linc. That was mighty dece of you."

"It's no problem, you guys." Lincoln said, "I had a great time, too. I was a little worried at first that the rest of our sisters would somehow find out about everything and turn it into chaos. But that didn't happen and I happy it was just the two of you that I got to hang out with."

"Aw, we're glad to hear you say that," Lynn expressed in admiration, "And hey, you look you're just about done with your volcano."

Lincoln nodded in agreement, "I know! It just needs a couple more adjustments and it'll finally be done. Yesterday I didn't think I'd be this close to finishing it, but thanks to all the time I've had over with Clyde and his dads, here it is nearing completion! All I need to do now is see if Mom and Dad are able to..."

Just as he mentioned his parents, Lincoln paused both his sentence and stopped right where he was standing. He shook his head and sighed, causing both Luna and Lynn to stop in their tracks as well.

"Something wrong, bro?" Luna asked him.

"Oh, I was just going to say that I hoped Mom and Dad could be able to help put the finishing touches on my volcano here, but what's the likelihood of that happening?" Lincoln said with a hint of disappointment, "They'll probably be too busy tending to our sisters with whatever their needs are, which was the reason I started going over to Clyde's house in the first place."

Lincoln sighed once more, causing Luna and Lynn to look at one another with regret, both from feeling sorry for their brother and the fact that they played a minor role in diverting their parents' attention away from him a couple of nights prior. At that moment, they both wanted to make it up to him and knew exactly how.

"You know, Lincoln, if you really needed help, why could've you asked any of us?" Lynn questioned.

"Because I-" Lincoln attempted to respond, but paused yet again, as that possibility hadn't crossed his mind before, "Wait, you guys would've helped me out?"

"Of course we would have, dude." Luna answered with a grin, "We are your sisters after all. You could've asked us for anything."

Lynn nodded in agreement and placed an arm around her little brother, "Yeah, and besides, in between teasing and roughhousing with you, there is that pretty important part of ours where we do want to look out for you whenever you need us."

Lynn would then pull her arm back and was about to give Lincoln a playful little punch on his shoulder like she often did, but thought against it when she realized it may not have been such a good idea given that it could cause him to drop his project and wreck it. Not wanting him to have a repeat of such a similar incident a little while back when he slipped on one of her roller skates and had his diorama of himself and his sisters destroyed, Lynn instead settled for an unexpectedly affectionate pat on her brother's back.

"Wow, I really had no idea you would've been able to help me at all." Lincoln said in a bout of surprise, "I just assumed you two, like the rest of our sisters, were simply too busy or didn't want to help at all."

"Oh, that's not true, Linc." Luna assured her brother while ruffling his hair, "We'll always be there if you need us for anything. In fact, how about once we get back home, we can work with you on the last little bit of your project. What do you say, little bro?"

"Really? Oh, I'd love that, Luna!" Lincoln happily answered and then he turned to Lynn, "And you too, Lynn?"

"Sure, I'm game." She responded.

Lincoln was feeling overjoyed inside and relieved in addition. The willingness and generosity of his two sisters right now in devoting time of theirs to assist in completing his project was something he appreciated so much.

"Gee, thank you so much, guys!" Lincoln said, once again in delight, though he also realized a potential problem ahead, "But I wonder how we'll keep this thing in one piece when we get back home. I bet everything's going to be crazy like it has been these past couple of days."

"Oh, don't worry about that, little brother." Lynn said confidently, "I think we've got this covered, don't we, Luna?"

Luna responded with a nod plus a crafty grin, appearing to be in sync with what her younger sister potentially had in mind. On the other hand, Lincoln was more lost, but hoped whatever they had planned would ensure that his volcano is able to outlast the coming chaos at home.

At last, after a little more walking, they had made it back to their home. Just barely being within the radius of the Loud house and it was apparent that, as predicted by Lincoln, sounds of excitement and bedlam seeped out from within.

"Oh, boy..." Lincoln apprehensively said.

"Hey, it's gonna be all right, dude." Luna told him with a rub of his shoulder.

"Yeah, we'll make sure of it." Lynn said in addendum, "You know what else? This could be a good time for you to come up with one of those long operation name things you like doing. It could help, you never know."

Looking at both of his sisters, Lincoln breathed in and out, took that suggestion to heart, then showed off a determined smile.

"Okay, how about this..." He began, "Let's put 'Operation: Go Along with Whatever You Guys Have Planned to Keep My Volcano in Tact While We Traverse Our Chaotic Home So You Can Then Help Me with the Finishing Touches of It and Also Come Up with a Shorter Name for This Operation' into effect!"

With it made official, Luna and Lynn gave their little brother confirmatory nods and thumbs up before all three of them approached the front doorstep. Upon arrival, Luna opened the door ever so slightly and peered through to get a lay of the situation inside. Among such highlights, should they be called such, were to include Luan chasing after Leni with her rubber spider, Lola zooming around in her jeep, the sound of Lily crying in the distance and green smoke emanating from upstairs likely as the result of an explosion from one of Lisa's experiments. This as Rita and Lynn Sr. were all juggling keeping their kids under control and being at hand for any of their needs.

Through all this mess, Luna did appear to find a clear path worth taking.

"All right, dudes, I think our plan should be that we cut right through the dining room, then into the kitchen and finally out to the backyard." She outlined to them, then looked at Lynn, "LJ, you take the back and I'll handle the front."

Though still quite lost in what his sisters were planning out, Lincoln was still willing to follow along. Responding to her sister's command, Lynn got behind her brother and planted one of her hands on his shoulder, given she was still carrying her bat and glove with her. Meanwhile, Luna positioned herself right in front of Lincoln facing him and with her back facing away from the door.

"Okay, we all ready?" She asked of her two siblings.

"10-4, sis." Lynn confirmed self-assuredly.

"Um, sure..." Lincoln answered a little more cautiously, "Ready as I'll ever be."

Upon getting confirmation, Luna back kicked the door open and commanded her younger siblings from there.

"LET'S ROCK 'N' ROLL OUT, MATES!" She bellowed out complete with her English accent.

The three of them would then make for a carefully yet lively pace through their predetermined path that had been planned out. In that time, Luna kept her arms wide open around Lincoln's volcano like a defensive perimeter. It was a little tricky for her because on top of that, she had to walk backwards the whole way plus the weight of her guitar that she still had slung around on her back made for an additional challenge to keep her equilibrium in check. Meanwhile, as Lynn handled the back end of things, she had her baseball bat primed and ready like she was fully prepared to use it in self-defense if needed should anyone be unlucky enough to come too close.

After a tense few seconds that may have felt longer in their minds, they made it the back door, which Luna quickly opened and let herself, Lynn and Lincoln on out before closing it shut. They all then released a collective sigh having arrived with everyone and everything in tact.

"Boom! We made it!" Lynn declared victoriously.

"Yeah, I'd say we did a pretty alright job in keeping the precious cargo safe...and his volcano, too." Luna said as she looked over and gave Lincoln a little wink.

Lincoln laughed slightly in response, "Oh...well, thanks, you guys. I'm bit confused as to why you chose for us to go to the backyard, though."

"It's simple, little bro..." Luna started explaining while she pointed out in the distance, "So we can use the garage as our workspace."

"Oh, okay then. Yeah, I think that'll work." Lincoln said in approval.

With the next phase of their plan underway, Lincoln carried his volcano on over to the garage while Luna and Lynn followed along to make sure everything remained in one piece. Arriving at the door on the side that leads within, Lynn opened it up for the rest of them and then she and Luna put aside their things for the time being before assisting in clearing out a workbench for Lincoln to place his volcano on.

"You know, perhaps before we get our hands dirty, we should join everybody else for dinner." Lynn suggested, "It'd looked like things were just about ready as we made our way though. Probably a good idea to get some grub that we can then convert it to work fuel."

Luna and Lincoln nodded in agreement as they followed Lynn along back inside the house, but not before Lincoln placed his volcano on the workbench. However, what he may have not noticed was that in a spate of haste, he set it down in a manner in which it had been put precariously close to the edge…

* * *

Over an hour later, after fueling up on a fulfilling dinner, assisting in cleaning up and taking an interlude for themselves, Luna, Lynn and Lincoln went forth back over to the garage so that they can work on the last remaining bits of the latter's volcano like it was promised to him before. On they way over, Lincoln was explaining to his sisters what exactly had to be done.

"So there really isn't much else that needs to be done. All we have to do is..."

But just as they stepped foot inside the garage, a gasp was shared among all three of them when they saw the volcano laying on its side, the structure itself looking partially smashed likely as a result of it having slipped off from the workbench.

"No!" Lincoln shouted, falling down to his knees while going over to his fallen project, "No, no, no, not again! Not again..."

Referencing that this is the second time that a project of his has been wrecked in some manner or another, Lincoln whimpered in defeat and lightly smacked his forehead with his fist.

"Why is this happening again? Why?! I must be so stupid!" He wailed painfully.

Not wanting to see their brother figuratively and literally beat himself up over this, Luna and Lynn didn't waste any time in coming on over to his side so they could try to console him.

"Aw, we're sorry, Lincoln." Lynn said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, and don't say you're stupid, bro." Luna added while she placed an arm around him, "This had to have been just an accident and nothing more."

"I...I hope it...it was..." Lincoln uttered through shuddered breath, "But this was supposed to be due tomorrow and look at it! It's all but completely ruined! What are we going to do now?"

Luna brought in her brother closer towards her, "I'll tell you exactly what we'll do, Linc. Lynn and I will uphold our promise in helping you out and together we'll make this thing bigger, better and more rad than it was before."

Lincoln looked up at Luna with a mix of optimism and uneasiness, "Really? But how? This took me a good couple of days to get it nearly complete. How can we possibly do the same before tomorrow?"

"We'll pull an all-nighter if we have to." Lynn said with a confident smile, "And besides, three sets of hands can get a lot more done than just one. We know how important this is to you, little bro, and there's no way were gonna let you fail."

Once again, Lincoln was positively enthralled with how generous and caring two of his sisters were right now, even offering to go as far as sticking it out all night just for him. Overwhelmed with emotion, he sniffled mildly and hugged them both, which Luna and Lynn were very much eager to return for their little brother.

"You know, I've said it already, but I can't thank you enough." Lincoln said proudly through getting misty eyed, "This means so much to me."

"The pleasure is all ours, Lincoln." Luna said in return warmly.

"Same here." Lynn added as she applied a little bit of a playful noogie to Lincoln.

Lincoln giggled over the dual amount of affection he was on the receiving end of and sighed contently in addition. After worrying so much about not getting enough attention or assistance for his project, he now learned that all this time, he did in fact have those who were willing to devote any amount of time for him in the form of his sisters, especially the two that were in his company right here and now. He couldn't ask for anything more than that and loved every bit of it as much as he loved them, too.

"All right, enough of this mushy, lovey dovey stuff for now. Time to put our game faces on and get to work!" Lynn said full of determination.

* * *

In the two hours that would pass, Lincoln could hardly believe his own eyes.

"Wow, you guys, this is amazing!" He expressed happily.

He alongside Luna and Lynn were looking at the now finished product that was Lincoln's volcano. It was almost a night and day difference and it could've been a lot worse. Initially upon discovering it having fallen off the workbench, Lincoln had thought in his panicked state of mind that the damage was so bad to the point that he feared that he had to start over from scratch and even with the promise from his sisters that they'll work on it with him all night, he assumed even that wouldn't be enough time.

But thankfully, after things settled down emotionally for him, Lincoln was relieved to see that his volcano had actually held up better than expected, having only sustained partial damage. As a result, most of the material was able to be reused and in a relatively short amount of time, it was back to how it looked before falling off.

Having it returned to it's original state, however, was only the beginning. Thanks to the assistance from his sisters, Lincoln was able to build upon that to make it even better. The volcano was now taller, had a larger and more sturdy base, a wider mouth and a slightly more realistic texture to it similar to how Clyde's own volcano looked. This being done also in just two hours, well below the all-nighter that could have been.

"This is incredible! I can't believe we did this in such record time!" Lincoln said in disbelief.

"Hey, it's like I said before about how three sets of hands can get more done than only one. You put our combined efforts together and boom, look what we can achieve!" Lynn said, followed by giving her brother a congratulatory slap on the back.

"And not to mention how much more rad it looks compared to before, just like I told ya it would be, bro!" Luna added assuredly.

Lincoln adorned a big smile on his face as turned around and gave both his sisters an appreciative simultaneous hug.

"You're probably sick of me saying this, but thank you both again." He told them graciously, "You generously put aside your own time for no other reason than to help me out. I don't know what else to say other than again, thank you."

"It's no trouble, Lincoln." Luna said, returning the hug, "Remember, we're always there if you need us, dude."

"Yeah, what she said." Lynn stated with a chuckle and also hugging Lincoln back.

After spending a bit of time in their group embrace, Lincoln was the first to pull out as he turned his attention back to his volcano, but he was also starting to feel drowsy.

"Well, now that the structure itself is complete, all we need to do now is...is...to...test out...the, uh...eruption...module."

With a small thud, his head fell against the workbench and he groaned lightly.

"Seems like it's high time for you to catch some shuteye, Linc." Luna said.

"But...the...eruption..." Lincoln attempted to say, only for a yawn to put a stop to things.

"I'm with Luna, little bro. It's time you get hauled off to bed, and I'd say you need it after all the hard work you've put in." Lynn said rather sweetly, "Here, let me help you out."

She turned Lincoln over towards her and then crouched down, signaling to him to get on her back. He did just that and Lynn was about to carry him piggyback style, but he'd become so exhausted that he couldn't get a decent enough grip around her that he slipped backwards and would've nearly cracked the back of his head on the hard, concrete floor had Luna not caught him in the process.

"Ah, why don't you let me handle him, Lynn?" She suggested.

Lynn released an embarrassed chuckle, "Uh...sure, fine. Maybe that'll work out better."

Completing a somewhat shaky transfer of their little brother between Lynn and herself, Luna lifted Lincoln up into her own arms and started carrying him.

"Get the door, would you?" Luna asked of her younger sister.

Lynn went along with the request, opening the side door to the garage to allow Luna through with their sleepy brother in her grasp. The same action would be repeated with the back door leading inside the house and then finally to the door for Lincoln's bedroom, where upon coming inside, Luna sat him down on the bed.

"Start untying his shoes and such while I'll get his jammies." The rocker girl told her jock sister.

As Luna went through her brother's dresser and gathered a set of his pajamas, Lynn undid the laces of Lincoln's shoes and slipped them off, then doing the same with his socks.

"Uh, guys, I'm willing to admit that maybe I might've been a little too tired to make it up to my room by myself, but come on, I can get dressed for bed on my own..." Lincoln tried to argue, but the drowsiness within him made it difficult to put up any impedance.

"We get that, bro, and I'd say we're doing this not because you _can't_ do it on your own, but because we _want _to right now." Luna said as she came back over with Lincoln's pajamas, then gave him a quick pat on the head, "Like I've said before, me, Lynn and just about everyone else will be there for you, even for small stuff like this. Now, raise your arms up."

Lincoln groaned sleepily, but ultimately did what his older sister told him and put his arms up, allowing Luna to take off his shirt and slipped on over his pajama top. Following that, he abruptly stood up just before anyone could get a hold of his pants.

"Okay, okay, I think both of you can at least let me do _this _part." He said defensively.

He began undoing his pants, but no sooner had he done that did Lynn make Lincoln a victim of a time honored pantsing.

"Ugh, Lynn, seriously?" Luna softly chided her.

Lynn shrugged her shoulders and flashed a playful grin, "What? He gave me a golden opportunity and I wasn't gonna waste it."

Luna simply sighed and rolled her eyes, and while Lincoln felt the urge to verbalize his own displeasure, he was too tired right now and just wanted to get some sleep.

Perhaps in her small way to make it up to him on the spot, Lynn grabbed the pajama bottoms that were laid across Lincoln's bed and handed them over to him. He muttered what sounded like a very quiet, sleepy "thanks" and put them on, though it did take him a couple of tries due to his state of exhaustion.

At last, after all his nighttime apparel was applied on, Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief as he climbed into bed and got under the covers.

"All cozy, little bro?" Luna asked him.

Lincoln nodded gently, "Yeah..."

"Good to know." Luna said with a smile, "All right then, get some much needed Z's, okay?"

She leaned down and kissed her brother's forehead, then Lynn came over and patted his shoulder.

"'Night, Linc." Lynn told him, "Your volcano's gonna kill it tomorrow, I know it!"

Lincoln smiled upon hearing that, but it did make him realize one minor thing that needed work.

"Wait, what about the eruption module?" He asked, "We still haven't tested it out."

Luna patted his head, "Don't worry about it at this moment, Lincoln. Tell you what, one of us will wake you up a little bit earlier than usual, then we'll all make sure that everything is rockin'. How's that sound?"

Lincoln took a moment to think it over before voicing his approval, "Sure, I guess we can do that."

He gave both his sisters a thankful smile before he turned to the side to snuggle into his pillow and fell into a deep sleep. As that happened, Luna lead Lynn out of Lincoln's room and ever so gently shut the door.

"You know, Luna..." Lynn began saying, catching her sister's attention, "Why don't we go ahead and test out the eruption thing on Lincoln's volcano ourselves?"

"I dunno about that, Lynn." Luna answered as she stretched and yawned, "I'm about ready to hit the sack myself. Plus, it is getting kinda late no matter how you look at it and I just told Linc we'd do it tomorrow morning anyway."

"Oh, come on, I don't think it'll take that long. It'd be a nice way of surprising Lincoln in the morning instead of getting him up earlier not knowing if the three of us can get it working in time for him to drop it off at school." Lynn countered with.

Luna had to admit that her younger sister's reasoning was pretty sound. There was in fact no guarantee the volcano's eruption process would be fully functional by the time Lincoln would take it in for his class. Despite her own growing weariness, she gave in on that idea.

"Okay, fine..." Luna acquiesced with a sigh, "Let's just hope it doesn't take long like you said. I don't want to grind on longer than we should."

Lynn grinned and laughed, "Oh relax, what's the worst that could happen?"

* * *

Only five minutes after returning to the garage, the third and fifth oldest of the Loud siblings had now found themselves in a most sticky and saucy of situations.

"Uh, to answer your earlier question, LJ, _this _is the worst that could happen." Luna stated bluntly.

Their brother's volcano stood before them all but completely covered in homemade lava in the form of their dad's marinara sauce, in addition to the parts of the workbench, the floor just below and some of it coated themselves as well.

"Well...at least it works, I think." Lynn said sheepishly.

"Yeah, only after you put way too much of Dad's marinara sauce in and pushed the button that makes it blow too hard! What were you thinking?!" Luna fired back, her voice raised to an annoyed pitch.

The tone of her rocker sister did cause the normally very self confident jock to shirk away slightly.

"Lynn?" Luna asked, now in a more soft manner.

"You're right, I really screwed up." Lynn said, sighing sadly, "Sorry about this, Luna. I shouldn't have dragged you into this so late at night and knowing both us were getting pretty tired, which likely explains this mess before us. I just really want Lincoln to own it with this project. Now he'll probably fail and it's all because of me..."

She sat down on the floor and hugged her knees, groaning in defeat. A frown came over Luna's face as she sat down next to her distressed sister and patted her on the back.

"Hey, I understand, and wasn't trying to blame you, sis. I also wanna see our bro do well, too, and I think you're being too hard on yourself thinking he'll fail now just because we had too shaky of an eruption." Luna said reassuringly.

She raised her arm up to place it around Lynn's shoulders.

"We made a promise to Lincoln that we will do whatever it takes to make this project of his as rockin' as can be, and I don't want to hear such a defeatist attitude coming from you of all people, Lynn. Despite what I've said just minutes ago, I'm now willing to sacrifice as much Z's of mine to make our little bro proud if you're willing to do the same." Luna concluded with the utmost of confidence.

Lynn turned to look at her older sister, now having regained some of her own confidence. She hugged Luna, with an audible squishing sound accompanying things because of marinara sauce that covered portions of their clothes. Luna giggled, but nevertheless returned the favor in embracing Lynn back.

"So, what do we do now?" Lynn asked after pulling away from the hug.

"I guess the obvious next step is do some serious cleaning of Lincoln's volcano, plus the floor and bench to the best of our ability, and not to mention ourselves. Then, we'll see what went wrong with the eruption stuff and see what we can do." Luna responded.

"Uh-huh, sure. Hopefully we'll figure something out." Lynn said, another brief bout of hesitation coming from her, "I mean, science is hardly my best subject in school."

"Same deal with me, dude." Luna agree with a laugh, "But are we gonna let that stop us? I say no."

She reached out her fist toward Lynn.

"For Lincoln."

Lynn grinned and bumped her sister's fist, "For Lincoln!"

* * *

The next morning at around 6:45, Lincoln rolled around gently in bed. He was starting to wake up, knowing that any moment now either Luna or Lynn or perhaps both of them were going to come get him so they can do some last minute work on his volcano before school.

Right on cue, he heard his bedroom door being knocked on.

"Come in." Lincoln said sleepily.

The doorknob turned and Lynn stepped on inside.

"'Morning, Linc!" She said cheerily, "Seems like you're kind of up already."

"Good morning, Lynn. Yeah, I am." Lincoln responded, sitting up from bed and stretching, "I'm guessing you're coming to get me so we can test out my volcano's eruption module?"

Lynn chuckled nervously, "Well, there's actually been a _slight_ change of plans, little bro."

"Huh? Like what?" Lincoln wondered.

"Just come on down with me and you'll understand." Lynn answered, ushering him to come with, "Luna's already at the garage waiting for us, so up and at 'em!"

Taking a brief moment to further get his bearings together, Lincoln stepped out of bed and followed his sporty sister out to the garage, where upon they met up with their older sister.

"Hey, good morning, bro!" Luna greeted upon Lincoln's arrival.

"'Morning, Luna." Lincoln replied with a smile, "So, what's this change of plans Lynn mentioned?"

"Uh...how about you take a look see for yourself?"

Luna stepped aside to allow Lincoln to witness things for himself. He saw that his volcano had faded stains of red all around as well as a similar mess in the surrounding area.

"Whoa, what happened here?" He asked puzzled.

"Well, this is kind of largely my doing." Lynn began explaining, "You see, just after we helped you get ready for bed, I convinced Luna to come back here so we can test out your volcano's eruption capabilities as means of surprising you. Safe to say it is a surprise, just not one you're expecting or maybe even wanted."

Luna nodded and placed a hand on Lynn's shoulder, "Yeah, at first, I unfairly ragged on Lynn, thinking she must've done something wrong. But I think what's really going on is that there's something off with the button you push in order for it to blow. We tried to find out for ourselves last night, but we gave up after a little while. Now we're kinda hoping you might know what's the deal."

Stepping forward, Lincoln checked out the button in question. Based on what he sees, it had been messed around with by a pair who, well meaning intentions notwithstanding, clearly had no idea what they were doing.

"Good reminder that science isn't really me or Luna's strong suit." Lynn admitted with a mild laugh.

"I'll say." Lincoln said, trying not to come off as demeaning or anything of the sort.

"So, uh...can you figure out what's up, bro?" Luna wondered.

Lincoln observed the module and all its associated cables, connections and such. He tinkered around with everything for a bit until he felt that he made satisfactory adjustments.

"There, that should do it." Lincoln said, "Now I want to see for myself if this thing can erupt properly."

"Sounds like a plan, Linc. Let me grab what's left of Dad's marinara sauce out of the fridge. I'll be right back." Luna said, departing briefly to get the stuff in question.

As they awaited for their older sister, Lincoln took a look around at the workspace of which had been coated in sauce from the previous night, then glanced at Lynn.

"You guys made a mess last night." He said so pointedly.

Lynn laughed, "Not gonna get any arguments from me. Luna and I did try our best to clean things up, though the floor may need a power washing. But hey, it could've been worse, like if the whole garage had gotten splattered, so it's a miracle the mess we ended up getting in the first place."

"That's true, I guess." Lincoln agreed, chortling mildly.

A few seconds later, Luna returned with a jar of marinara sauce at hand, something that Lincoln felt was off.

"Huh, I thought Dad made a whole pot of sauce just for my volcano." He noted.

"You're right, dude, he _had _a pot of it." Luna corrected her brother, "You can probably guess what happened to the lot of it, as you've no doubt seen, so there was no sense in keeping what's left inside a big pot."

While Luna opened the jar, Lynn got a funnel that was laying around on the workbench and situated it on the mouth of the volcano. With that set, Luna poured a modest amount of sauce down and then took the funnel out.

"All right, the honor's all yours, Lincoln." Lynn said to him.

Lincoln grinned slightly as he hovered his hand right over the button, ready to see if everything should work out. Perhaps unbeknownst to him, Luna and Lynn backed away a couple of feet, both fearing a possible repeat of the prior night's botched eruption, but not far enough so that they can still pull their brother away from any incoming sauce should such a calamity strike again.

"Commencing eruption in three...two...one!"

The button was pressed by Lincoln and a brief burbling sound emitting from the volcano. Behind him, Luna and Lynn's eyes widened, because it was the same sound they heard before the very splashy and messy eruption that occurred last night. As a precaution, they yanked him in their direction, much to his confusion.

However, it may have been for naught, as the volcano instead dispensed only a trickle of lava before fizzling out, causing a sigh between Luna and Lynn.

"Phew..." Lynn said in relief.

"Huh? That's it?" Luna wondered perplexingly.

Lincoln looked at both of his sisters in confusion, "What do you mean by 'that's it', and why did you guys pull me away like that?"

"For a second there, we thought we're gonna get a repeat of last night's wickedly gnarly blow up, but seems like not this time thankfully, bro." Luna answered.

Indeed, while no huge gushing of lava came bursting out, practically the exact opposite appeared to happen. After being let go by his sisters, Lincoln approached his volcano and scratched the side of his head.

"Well...it kind of works. I mean, better that it barely erupts at all instead of not or too much, right?" He said with a mixture of confusion and disappointment.

He exhaled and his sisters came closer to him.

"Hey, we're sorry about this, Lincoln." Lynn said while putting a hand on his shoulder, "Like I said before, and I know Luna will try to put some of the blame on herself, but this really is mostly my fault. We should've waited until this morning to handle anything relating to testing this thing out. Even after seemingly fixing it, we may have messed up things too much still and if you end up getting a failing grade, you'll know who to blame."

She sighed afterward, but much to her surprise, she became on the receiving end of an appreciative hug from her brother.

"Are you kidding me? Without you guys, this thing wouldn't be close to being ready. So what if it didn't erupt in the best fashion right now? What's most important is that the structure of the volcano is complete and that would've not been possible with the assistance of you and Luna. For what feels like the millionth time, thank you both so much and I know I owe you big time for this." Lincoln expressed very gratefully.

In a matter of seconds, Lynn went from feeling nothing but guilt to brimming with elation over how sincerely Lincoln meant every word of graciousness directed in her and Luna's direction. For that, she returned the hug on her end.

"You're welcome." Lynn said very simply, but filled with genuine admiration.

As they were engaged in their embrace, Luna joined in by wrapping her arms around both her younger siblings and pulled them close against her.

"Glad we could help out, Lincoln." She said, "And speaking of things being said for the millionth time, never forget that we'll always gonna be there for you, bro."

And that was the big takeaway that Lincoln will hold on to from this experience. No matter what, even when it seems like they're busy, there will always be someone in his family ready to lend a helping hand or two for whatever he needed. They'll be there for him as much as he'll do the same in return and that's what families are always willing to do and are meant for.

* * *

**And there we go! I really liked how this one turned out, especially since at first it wasn't the highest of priorities, but over time that changed in a big way and it even became two and a half times longer than originally planned. One of the reasons I like this one a lot is because it utilized one of my favorite trios of siblings. Like lots you watching on, I have a number of favorite pairs of siblings I like seeing being together and bonding, but I also go the extra mile in having favorite trios and even quartets for similar purposes, too.**

**Okay, and with that, reviews, feedback and all that jazz are good and we shall do this thing again soon enough!**


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